


Taking Care of Tangles

by pewpewdragons (Nyoona)



Series: Pergamon Guard [1]
Category: Flight Rising
Genre: BFFs, Caretaking, Friendship, Gen, Panic Attacks, Trauma, Violence, haircare!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-25
Updated: 2017-05-25
Packaged: 2018-11-04 22:00:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10999860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nyoona/pseuds/pewpewdragons
Summary: Orestes was going through a difficult time. Phoenicia had been keeping an extra-careful eye on him ever since he was cursed to a form of a Tundra. He has seemed to take it pretty well but now no one had seen him in days and Phoenicia was worried about her friend. She decided to pay him a visit and it's a damn good thing she did.





	Taking Care of Tangles

**Author's Note:**

> I upped the rating from general of my previous stories to teen and up, just to be on the safe side.
> 
> This story takes place 20+ years before the current date in my lore. It's a prequel of sorts, meant to shed light on some key characters. It tells the story of how Orestes actually reacted to his curse (because if you ask him about it he will lie and joke about it) but also shows what kind of friendship he has with Phoenicia.
> 
> Meihin means the gijinka form of a dragons in my lore and you can read more about it in [here](http://ljoonika.tumblr.com/meihin).
> 
> Also, tried to make a little something to illustrate the story so you can find some kind of a drawing somewhere along the way!

“What’s wrong?” Wrena asked Phoenicia, who had been pacing around quite restlessly for a while now. The Mirror knew her wife and that she wasn’t easily upset by anything so this was something serious.

“I haven’t seen Ori in a while,” the Tundra replied.

“Isn’t that normal? You don’t usually really see your friends every day.”

“I know, I know. But I asked around and no one has seen him in days. I’m the only one that is worried though. It’s just that it’s not been that long since— _it_ happened,” she replied, referring to her Skydancer friend suddenly waking up as a Tundra one morning.

“Oh? I thought he looked just fine the last time we saw him?” Wrena furrowed her brow absent-mindedly at the item she was studying. “I was really surprised by it though, the way he just went on like it was no big deal.”

“That’s the problem. He always looks like he’s fine,” she huffed, stopping her pacing to turn to look at Wrena. “I’ve been stepping back and allowing him the space, waiting for him to ask if needs any help or support. I thought that this is such a huge thing that he wouldn’t be able to just brush it off and pretend like nothing is wrong, that he would reach out in the end. But he hasn’t. I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing by waiting anymore.”

“Maybe you should go and see if he’s alright then?” Wrena stood up and walked to Phoenicia, wrapping her arms around her fluffy wife. “I know you don’t feel comfortable intruding but I hate to see you this stressed out and nervous about it. Return some of those books that I borrowed from him if you need an excuse to visit.”

Phoenicia leaned her head on Wrena’s neck and breathed in her scent. The smell of soil and outdoors had stuck to her but so had paper and ink. And underneath it all was her own sweet scent. It never failed to calm her down.

“Yeah, I think I’ll do that. Thanks dear,” she raised her head to nuzzle their snouts together affectionately.

“And maybe teach him how to groom himself now that he has all that fur. He was looking a bit knotty,” Wrena snorted jokingly.

“That— that’s actually a very good point. He needs help being a Tundra. I know we’ll find a way to uncurse him but in the meantime he needs to take care of what he has now. And I shouldn’t be pushing too many boundaries by offering to help with that.” Phoenicia was getting excited. “Keep the books for a while longer, I’m going to grab some grooming tools and head out!”

“Good luck!”

Phoenicia gathered the items she needed and stuffed them into the pockets of her apron. She was already halfway out the door when she suddenly turned and ran back to her wife, nipping at her cheek gently.

“You are really smart my wife, have I already told you that?” She said with a smile.

“No, not today you haven’t, dear wife,” she chuckled. “Now go on, out you go, I have work to do!”

With a grin and enthusiastic nod she was out the door.

———

She didn’t visit Orestes at the Guard post too often. The place was well built and clean but somehow unpleasant. It had been built for a Guard that was much larger than the three dragons that now inhabited it and it always felt eerily empty.

And then there was Adhara. Phoenicia couldn’t stand the Skydancer. She smelled like bitterness and trouble, like someone you shouldn’t spend any time around. Orestes seemed to like her for some reason. She had wondered whether he would notice what Adhara was, now that he was a Tundra and could smell her, but it didn’t seem like it had made any difference. He always was prone to bad company. Some small part of Phoenicia’s mind thought that what happened to him, the curse, was inevitable. She wasn’t going to blame him for it, but she also wasn’t going to pity him, just hoping that he would have learned something by the time he got his curse reversed.

There was no one there when she walked through the front gate and made her way towards the barracks. The fireplace at the common room was cold too. The abandoned atmosphere was starting to get to her and she picked up her pace while walking down the corridor. These rooms were all for smaller breeds but there were differences in the sizes and shapes of the doors and rooms behind them. Finally she reached his and knocked on it softly.

There was no reply and the thought that he might have changed rooms now that he was a Tundra crossed her mind. His Skydancer form had been quite tall, even for that breed and he occupied one of the largest spaces in this part of the building, but the new Tundra form had turned out to be somewhat small and might be more comfortable in a smaller room. His scent was still centered around this very door so this must have been the right one.

She knocked again, this time also calling his name.

“Ori? Are you there?”

There was still no reply. She knocked more sharply.

“Ori, it’s me, Phi. Can you please open?”

She was starting to notice something about the scent that was coming from the room. She smelled something akin to fear. Things were really wrong. She decided that she needed to go in and check on him, no matter what. The door wasn’t locked anyway.

“Hey, I’m coming in now.” She opened the door a bit. “Just— say if you don’t want me to?” There was still no reply so she pushed the door open and entered the room.

At first glance things seemed to be normal. The room was neat as always. It always amused her how such a careless personality could keep such an orderly and uncluttered living space, and decorate with a style that was simple but comfortable looking. Then she noticed that the curtain that covered the entrance to a smaller room on the side had been shredded. With a tinge of panic she hurried to the take a look.

It was dark and it took a while for her eyes to adjust to seeing in just the dim light that came through the doorway. What she saw was chaos. Everything in the room had been shredded to pieces, just like the curtain. There were deep claw marks on all of the walls, and feathers and shards of glass all over the floor. She picked one up and realized it was a piece from a mirror. She looked towards the back of the room where the mirror stood and finally noticed a curled up form leaning against the wall.

“Oh, Ori,” a she whispered in shock.

He was in a meihin form. Not the one she knew but a new one. He had his arms around his legs and his head was leaning against his knees, hiding his face but Phoenicia saw hair. Hair all over him, long knotted mass of seafoam fur covering every inch of his body that she could see. His previously soft and curly purple locks had turned to a wild mess that was standing in all directions.

She made her way towards him, carefully avoiding all the sharp glass on the floor. She hesitated a bit before gently placing a paw on his shoulder. He shuddered and raised his head a bit. It took a while for him to focus his eyes on her.

“Phi?” His voice was dry and thin.

“I’m sorry. I should have come sooner,” she said, tears starting to stream down her face.

“You shouldn’t have come at all,” he snarled, but it was a weak attempt. He could hardly keep his head up and the effort to bare his fangs at her seemed to be too much as his head slumped back down.

“Of course I came!”

She sat down next to him and awkwardly placed her arms around him. It would have been easier is she had used her meihin but she felt like it wouldn’t be the best idea right now, seeing the state he was in. At first he stiffened at the hug. Then she heard a quiet sigh as his body relaxed a little. A bit later he started to lean on her and then pressed his face on her mane. His hand was grabbing a fistful of her fur as his shoulders started to shake with huge heaving sobs.

 _He’s really dehydrated_ , she thought as she noticed no tears wetting her fur and the strangled, wheezing sound of his cries. The stench of the room also suggested that he hadn’t left it in days. Her first priority would be to get him some water and then clean him up.

It took a while but finally he seemed to have exhausted himself, as his grip from her fur loosened and he slumped against her, going quiet. Phoenicia wanted to take a proper look at what she was dealing with here but the room was too dark. She carefully managed to slip herself under him and place his limbs around her so that she could lift him on her back and take him out of the room. It wasn’t exactly stable but somehow she managed to carry him to the brighter room without an incident. She made her way to the sitting area, leaned down and allowed him to roll from her back to the pillows on the floor. He barely made a sound at any of this.

Now that she could see properly she could verify that he really was covered in fur from head to toe. _He’s completely feral! How did this even happen,_ she wondered. And it wasn’t just that his meihin had suddenly grown long fur. His body was also different, shorter and thicker. His face was wider and the feather crest was gone, as was the bone sphere from the forehead. Instead he now had branching bone horns and a pair of fluff covered ears sticking out from among the tangled hair. She could imagine that underneath all that fur his form actually now resembled her own meihin and she realized that the cause must have been the breed change. He was a Tundra now so of course he couldn’t keep his old form after that.

Other things finally managed to catch her attention after she was done observing the most obvious ones. She noticed the blood first, and then the cuts on his feet, from the mirror shards most likely. His hands were also stained, knuckles bruised and claws broken or completely missing. It was pretty evident that he had torn the room apart on his own. She would need to clean him up and do something about all those cuts. But water first.

She left him for a short while to go look in the small pantry and cooking area near the entrance. She hoped to find a water container but found something even better, a box with markings of the witch Zima in it. It was an ice box. She ignored the frozen larvae and other food items he could no longer even eat and grabbed a handful of ice shards to a bowl she had found. Then she returned to the sitting area and slipped some ice inside Orestes’ mouth. It felt like a better solution than trying to get him to drink something liquid at this point.

“Are you still awake?” She asked him, shaking him a bit in case he wasn’t. He let out a small groan. Good enough. “I’m going to do something about that fur of yours but I need to get some stuff and I’ll be gone for a bit so just stay right where you are, okay?”

His eyes opened wide and he grabbed her fur again, too weak to really hold her in place, face twisting in fear.

“You’re— coming back— rn’t you?” He managed to struggle the words out. Phoenicia reached out to gently nuzzle against his cheek with her face.

“Of course I’m coming back. I won’t abandon you, no matter what happens,” she assured him. To her relief this seemed to calm him down enough that she could take her leave.

Once outside she realized that she had no idea where to find any of the things she needed, like warm water and towels. Luckily she at least had her grooming set with her. After some deliberation she decided that the common room was probably the best place to start with.

Phoenicia had hoped to find something like a communal kitchen and wasn’t disappointed. It currently seemed as abandoned as the rest of the Guard post but at least there was a working fireplace and a pot of water hanging from a hook. She had no idea how long the water had been there but she pushed the pot over the flames anyway since it wasn’t meant for drinking. Then she started to search the rest of the kitchen.

In one cupboard she found some table cloths. They looked completely unused so no one would probably miss one which was good enough for her. At one corner she noticed a huge butcher’s block and in a cupboard near it she found knives. She chose a sharp fish knife. Then she grabbed a large pitcher that was just sitting near the fireplace and returned to check the pot. She was pleased to find out that the water was now nearly hot enough for what she needed. Just a bit longer.

She allowed her form to shift to meihin, then dug out a hair tie from a pocket and immediately started to braid her now long hair out of the way. Then she leaned on the brick side of the fireplace and allowed herself some time to stop and think while the water was heating up.

What was apparent was that her friend had tried to turn into meihin without any help or guidance. He had of course done the whole first time process once before, like everyone else had, so attempting it alone now wasn’t such an odd idea, especially taking his situation into account. He might have even realized that it would be different earlier on, and preferred to do it on his own.

But it had also gone wrong, so very wrong. She had seen some half ferals during her years but never a completely feral meihin and she was glad that the part of her mind that was worried about her friend had acted so fast, before any instinctive reactions had managed to get through.

Why had it happened? His old meihin had been completely normal so why? It wasn’t supposed to happen like that. It was supposed to be some kind of an irreparable fault at the person themselves, something that they were born with. At least that what everyone said. But lot of things were said about a lot of things. Maybe that didn’t necessarily make them true?

Just then her thoughts were interrupted by a noise from the pot as the first bubbles of boiling started to appear. She cursed silently for allowing the water to get too hot while moving the hook away from the flame. She would need to dilute it with cold water now. Clutching the table cloth and the knife on one hand she dipped the pitcher in the pot and then made her way back to Orestes’ room.

He hadn’t moved from where she had left him, not that she had expected it. He seemed to be asleep and the bowl of ice she had left beside him had melted. Judging by the amount of water sloshing at the bottom he hadn’t touched it.

She placed her haul on the floor next to him and went to get some fresh ice. Most of it went into the pitcher to cool the water she had brought but she also put some in his mouth and left the bowl near in case he woke up and wanted more. Then she got to work.

She tore the tablecloth to smaller rags, soaked the rags in the warm water and started to clean the blood and other dirt off. She found pieces of glass from his feet but also from his hands and she carefully picked them all out. Some made him twitch, or even yank his limb away, but none of them seemed to wake him up. It was probably better that way. There was enough tablecloth left for makeshift bandages that she wrapped around the worst cuts.

Then she moved her attention to the fur. Wrena had been right in that it had been knotted when they last saw him. Now it was even worse. Phoenicia chewed her lip while agonizing over what to do with it. She might have been able to comb all the knots out with a lot of time and patience but it would be simpler to just cut it all off. She had taken the knife from the kitchen for that express purpose but now found herself hesitating. It was his fur after all, and not her decision to make.  She combed out what she could without cutting anything, removing some small pieces of glass still hidden among the tangles and then put away her tools along with the kitchen knife. It would need to wait until he woke up.

It was getting really late but she had promised not to leave and didn’t want him to wake up to no one there so she decided to stay for the night. Wrena would understand her not coming back home tonight since she knew what hear real purpose for coming here had been. She arranged the pillows a bit and laid down beside her friend, wrapping an arm around his chest and pulling him close, spooning his meihin with hers. She felt exhausted already so it didn’t take long for her to fall asleep.

———

It was hard to say how much time had passed when she woke up to Orestes moving around. The lights in the room were dimmer, suggesting that it might be night time, but since there were no windows it was not possible to make sure without going outside.

“Sorry, did I wake you up?” He asked, his voice a bit more clearer now.

“Don’t worry about it,” she replied sleepily.

“I’m thirsty.”

She got up and helped him to take a few sips from the now melted bowl of ice. Then she arranged some pillows to lean on and helped him to sit up.

“You need to eat something,” she said. He would need something more substantial than water to get his strength back.

“I’m not hungry.”

“Starving yourself isn’t going to help.”

“Neither is eating. Nothing is going to help,” he said with a dull voice.

“Do you want to talk about it?” She asked.

He crossed his arms and looked away. Phoenicia allowed him to think in silence and looked as he gritted his teeth and then fidgeted with his arms, uncrossing and crossing them again.

“I can’t change back,” he finally said, in a barely audible voice.

“What do you mean? Back to dragon? Or Skydancer?”

“Both. I can’t do either.”

“How do you know?”

“I know because I’ve been trying to turn back to a dragon for— I don’t even know. What day is it?” He looked confused when she told him. “Only three days? I’m not sure if it felt longer or shorter than that,” he mumbled, before continuing, “I’ve been trying but it doesn’t work. I’m stuck being this— this monster!” His face distorted in disgust.

“You’re not a monster Ori,” she said softly, taking his hand on hers.

“Look at me! I’m hideous!” Orestes suddenly screamed, digging what remaining claws he had to her hand. It hurt but his words about himself hurt more.

“No you’re not!” She yelled back at him. Then she lowered her voice to a more calm tone, trying to reason with him. “You might be a feral now but I had a good look at you yesterday and I think you will be completely normal under that fur. Different than before but normal.”

“I don’t want to be different. I want to be what I was.” His voice cracked as tears started to appear to his eyes.

“Oh honey, I know,” Phoenicia said as she reached to comfort him with a hug. She couldn’t truly understand what it felt like to go through what he was going through now but she knew it must be difficult and the only thing she could really do was to be there. She had no solutions or answers.

“But what say you if we got you cleaned up a bit anyway?” She finally suggested. “It’s not gonna fix anything but at least you wouldn’t have to worry about all those tangles on top of everything else, if we trimmed it down a bit.”

“Yeah, maybe—” he mumbled a bit uncertainly. Then more firmly, “Yes, just chop it all away. And the hair too! It’s ruined and I don’t want it!”

“Let’s start with the hair then. The fur will be easier with it out of the way,” she said, relieved that she could do at least something. “If you can sit up on your own that is?”

“I’ll try.” He pushed himself up, away from the pillows. His arms were shaking a bit from the effort but otherwise he looked to be stable. Phoenicia helped him to sit in front of her and dug out a spare hair tie from her pockets, gathering all of his hair on a somewhat neat ponytail. The hair might have kept its old length but the texture was much coarser now. Then she took the knife she had found from the kitchen on her hand, as her small grooming shears couldn’t really cut through this much.

Orestes’ meihin had had really long hair for as long as she had known him and it felt odd to be about to cut most of it off, no matter how different he looked now. She hesitated just a moment before grabbing the hair firmly and asking, “Ready?”

“Go ahead,” he replied.

The knife was really sharp and bit through a sizable chunk of hair with each sawing motion. It didn’t take long to get through.

“You look so odd right now,” Phoenicia commented on the shoulder length look after going around him to inspect the results.

“I feel odd too. Like my head is suddenly floating.”

“I’m not surprised. This thing is heavy,” she said, throwing the cut off ponytail to his lap. The look on his face was a weird mixture of disgust and curiosity as he examined it.

“It’s the right colour and length but otherwise—” Orestes' fist squeezed tightly around the hair. “It’s not my hair. It’s just not. I don’t care if it came from my head, it’s not mine.”

There was really nothing she could say right now so she just grabbed a comb and started to detangle the hair that was still left. It probably wasn’t going to set into any kind of elegant or even smooth style. She combed the hair out of his face and examined his facial features. The face and nose were wider and the lips were less prominent now that the arch that she had always considered a bit arrogant looking was gone. His eyes were rounder and brows lower. It was a much more common looking face now.

“You look a lot less like an asshole now,” she snorted.

“Asshole? What—” he started to stutter but Phoenicia continued.

“Yeah, you’re almost kinda cute now and I know exactly what I’m going to do with your hair. Sit still!” And with that she got to work.

“Why am I friends with you anyways,” he whined.

“Because you need someone to always be honest with you. Just like I need you for that same reason,” she spoke softly. “And you know you love me,” she added with a cheerier tone.

“No I really hate you,” he said but the corners of his mouth were starting to twitch.

“There’s that smile,” she returned one back at him. “We’re gonna get you through this, don’t worry.”

Phoenicia cut the rest of his hair in comfortable silence. Enough was said with the act of grooming, without a need for words. He was focusing on the ponytail on his lap, sectioning and braiding it to give his hands something to do.

Orestes' hair wasn’t going to look like it had so Phoenicia decided to go completely opposite, giving him a fringe with longer and fluffier sides. The back she left about where she had already cut it, just layering a bit so more it wouldn’t lie flat. She had a feeling it would work well with his current look.

“Right. It’s done now. Wanna see?” She started to look for the small mirror in her grooming kit.

“No!” His face suddenly looked panicked. Then he fidgeted a bit before saying, “Uh, thanks but I trust that it looks fine. I don’t really need to see it. Okay?”

“Yeah, it’s okay. You don’t have to,” she assured him while berating herself for the thoughtlessness. Hadn’t she picked out those mirror shards from his body only yesterday? Of course he didn’t want one now. “I’m sorry,” she added.

“It’s— fine. I just—” His voice was trembling a bit and he looked at her with pleading eyes. “Just, not yet? I don’t think I can—” His hand reached out to grab her arm while his eyes grew wide and unfocused. He was again gritting his teeth but much harder this time. It looked like he was fighting something. He was breathing hard but it didn’t seem like he was panicking. It felt more like he was trying to contain rage.

“Shh, it’s okay.” Whatever was going on scared her but since he had reached towards her she decided that hugging him wasn’t out of the question and took him in her arms, continuing  to assure him with calm murmurs. “I’m sorry I didn’t understand it right away, I’m sorry. You don’t need to look at anything you don’t want to. It’s alright. It’s alright.”

His fingers kept gripping her arm with more force while his other hand was tearing at the pillow he was sitting on. But little by little he did calm down. Phoenicia stroked his hair and his back slowly until she was sure the attack was over.

“You okay?” She asked

“Yes,” he replied at first. Then, “No. I don’t know,” he sighed.

“Anything I can do?”

“Just—” he paused for a while to swallow with some apparent difficulty, “—don’t leave me alone. Please?”

“I won’t, don’t worry.”

Phoenicia decided at the spot that she would do what anything that was necessary to get him back to his feet. She would need to let Wrena know and arrange for something for them to eat. And figure out something to tell to the other guards, though judging by the fact that no one had still came around to ask anything, it was probably the least on her list of worries.

“You want to continue shedding that fur off now?” She asked.

“Oh, by the Arcanist’s weird hands, yes!” he breathed out.

“I’ll start from the face then,” she chuckled, while moving to sit in front of him.

His fur was much softer than his hair so she used the scissors, saving the knife for the big, matted knots. The work went much quicker since she only needed to clip everything as short as possible, keeping it all about an even length. While she was cutting she suddenly remembered their earlier conversation that had been left halfway.

“I almost forgot but what about the other thing you said, about not being able to change back to Skydancer? What was that about?” She asked.

Orestes' hands had been back at playing with the cut off hair but now they stopped. He was quiet for a good while before finally speaking.

“He— he left the clan about a week ago. I think he was afraid that I would go to the Council about this. Like I would want all the sordid details of it to be public knowledge!” he scoffed at the idea. “But— he came by before that, just to tell me that he went to a blood witch. That he had made sure that any breed magic wouldn’t work and it would be useless to even try. He said I would suffer for daring to leave him.” His tone was flat, like he had been over the matter so many times that it didn’t register as something emotionally upsetting anymore.

She gasped, shocked to the core. It really was too cruel. It didn’t even matter that he had been warned against him, or that he had ignored some really obvious warning signs. No one deserved this.

“I’m going to kill him,” she snarled furiously. “If that bastard ever sets foot here again, I’m going make sure he—”

“Please don’t start getting angry right now. You’re holding scissors near my face,” he winced, closing his eyes tight.

Phoenicia forced herself to calm down. It was unlikely that that despicable worm would crawl back anyway as Pergamon clan had some of the strictest laws in the area and consequences would be dire. Orestes might not have wanted to talk about it but the word had already spread out and she doubted there was anyone out there who was under the impression that he had became a Tundra out of his own will.

“Fine,” she finally huffed, continuing to trim his fur.

“Do you believe him?” She asked after a while.

“I don’t know. I don’t know shit about magic,” he replied glumly. “I mean, if it’s possible to do something like that then yeah, I might believe what he said? What do you think?”

“Magic is not my strongest suit either.” She shook her head. “But what I think is that I could go to the library and see what they have about it in there.”

“I also need to turn back to dragon. Would there be a book about that?” He grimaced.

“I honestly think that’s just a matter of your mental state,” she replied after brief consideration. “You know the way it’s always more difficult to turn if you’re upset in anyway? It might not possible until you’re a bit more calm, so try not to worry about it too much just yet, okay?”

“I suppose,” he said, though he didn’t sound too convinced.

“Hey, one thing at a time,” she said, reaching to squeeze his hand for a bit before resuming the trim. She worked fast, occasionally asking him to lift an arm or change positions so she could reach new places.

“You’re gonna do your privates yourself,” she declared, after finally having gotten rid of most of the fur.

“Yeah, I’d prefer that, thanks,” he replied with a bashful smile. In addition to the place mentioned, she had left no longer hairs. He could later decide if he wanted to let some parts grow but for now he looked quite bare.

“I just now realized that you’ve been completely naked this whole time,” she snorted.

This made Orestes finally laugh out loud. His voice too was different now, but the laugh came out exactly the same way, just in a different pitch. Phoenicia was glad to hear it.

“I’m sure your endless love for Wrena will carry you through the temptation of seeing me in this highly compromising situation,” he joked.

“Ugh, I know this is emotionally trying time for you and I shouldn’t call you disgusting, but you are disgusting.”

“Don’t deny the beastly magnetism working on you,” he cackled.

“And I even held you like a mother for the night. You should feel ashamed!”

“I’m feeling something alright!” He grinned and poked a her with his elbow. Then he went quiet for a while.

“I’m feeling grateful, actually. Thanks. For being a friend. I wasn’t sure—” he was choking up, tears appearing in his eyes again. “Sorry, I’m just drying myself up again by crying so much,” he chuckled.

“Just let it out, I’ll get you some more water,” she said and pat him affectionately before getting up and heading to the kitchen. This time she managed to locate a bottle of actual water and poured some on a cup.

“When do you need to go to work?” She asked, getting back.

“Uh, yesterday? I had two days off so I should have been back last night,” he shrugged, taking a sip from the cup she gave him.

“What?” Phoenicia couldn’t believe what she heard. “I’ve been here since yesterday and no one came to look for you!”

“Well, Toma doesn’t like me and Adi doesn’t much care about the job, so—” He tried to explain.

Phoenicia felt a flash of anger towards the other Guard members but also towards her friend. She grabbed his face between her fingers, pressing with more force than was necessary, and pulled it closer. “From now on I won’t stand you referring to—,” she paused to sarcastically emphasize the nickname, “— _Adi_ as a friend in my presence. That bitch has never been and will never be your friend and the sooner you realize it the better,” she growled. Then, letting go of his face she added, “and I don’t care what this Toma’s problem with you is, I’m going to chew her out for this, you better believe it.”

“Yes ma’am,” he squeaked.

“Good. Now I’m going to go out for a bit, let Wrena know what’s up, get some food and new clothes arranged for you, and visit the library. And then I’m moving in here for as long as I need to and we’re gonna get you sorted out, okay?”

He stared at her in silence for a while, looking absolutely flabbergasted.

“You would— you would do that? Stay here? For me?” He asked reluctantly.

“Yes I would and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

“I don’t deserve it.” He grabbed her by the shoulders and spoke with rough voice. “I don’t know if I would have done the same if you’ve been in my place. I don’t know if I had the strength. I really, really don’t deserve any of this!”

“I didn’t know either,” she replied softly. “Not until it happened. You don’t know. I don’t trust people who freely proclaim their willingness to do difficult things. They will let you down. I’d prefer if you never made any such promises. You’ve been a good friend but I still wasn’t sure what I would have been willing to do for you until now. This is it. And there’s no deserving it. It’s what you need so it’s what I’ll do.”

Her words had caused the waterworks to start again and this time she joined him. They were hugging and crying, and when the tears finally ran out, they kept holding each other for comfort for a long while.

———

She ended up staying for a whole month. To his guardmates Phoenicia explained that he had caught the fever of the ember spots and should not be approached, and that she would take care of him since she had already had the disease. It was only half-lie, as she actually had suffered through it as a hatchling. The disease wasn’t endemic to Arcane so she was pretty sure that the other two hadn’t had it and it turned out that she was right. They avoided Orestes, and her too, like a plague and didn’t even ask where he had supposedly caught such a disease.

She had cleaned the smaller room. He had destroyed pretty much everything that had been out, including what looked to have been his nest based on the amount of feathers and plant fibers she had to clean away. The mirror was ruined but the frame was still pretty intact and it wasn’t something she could sneak out without being noticed, so she left it where it was, just covering it with a blanket.

It took a week before he allowed Wrena to visit. Phoenicia wanted to show Orestes that his new form wasn’t as horrible as he thought it to be, but she wasn’t sure if she could convince him. But at least she could make sure he knew she and her wife would be safe, that they wouldn’t judge.

It took two weeks before he could finally change back to Tundra. She taught him how to take care of his new fur with daily grooming, and what he needed to do to wash it and keep it tangle free. She also suggested that he keep it trimmed to something like the summer coat length until he got used to the whole thing. The Keep was usually warm enough to go without winter fur anyway.

By the third week he got back to his guard duties and Phoenicia accompanied him for the first few times, until he felt comfortable doing things alone again. The nights were calm and uneventful and they mostly just talked during them. The few altercations that happened with drunken dragons, she was glad to see that his work instinct kicked in and he didn’t have much trouble handling the situations.

His mental state was much improved at that point but he still had nightmares and sudden episodes of either rage or panic almost daily, which made her stay for that fourth week. But by the end of it she felt that there really wasn’t much else she could achieve by staying. The nightmares might continue for a long time, probably for years. He had learned to recognize when panic was about to happen and ways to manage it. He was back to work and eating properly. So it was time for her to go home.

But still she continued to worry.

**Author's Note:**

> This was a difficult thing to write as I've gotten pretty emotionally involved with my damned dragons and want absolutely no harm for them, ever again. It's why my "present day" lore is mostly about healing and romance. But if I want my lore, and especially Ori, to be properly understood, this event needed to be addressed. Writing it from his best friends PoV was easier. As said on the notes at the beginning, this story takes place 20+ years in the past, so Ori is just a bit over 30 which is still pretty young and naive in dragon years. Phi is around the age Ori is at present day lore (58.)
> 
> I'm a lousy emotional support person myself. I need too much time to think about what to say to be of any help. I hope Phi is a bit better than me. Also, Ori's panic attacks are based on mine since that's what I know the best. It's about 70/30 chance on whether it's flight or FIGHT. People generally have absolutely zero sympathy for the violent outburst attack so I wanted to make Phoenicia the exception because I can.


End file.
